'I'm Embarrassed By Your Leadership!': Matt Gaetz Clashes With Lloyd Austin In Tense Exchange

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore/CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr

At a House Armed Services Committee hearing, Congressman Matt Gaetz (Republican-FL) clashed with Sec. Lloyd Austin.

Here you can read the complete conversation between Rep. Gaetz & Sec. Austin:

Matt Gaetz asked a question: Secretary Austin why should American taxpayers fund lectures at the National Defense University that promote socialism as a strategy to combat china?

Sec. Austin: It's the national defense university as an academic institution and I don't know of any such lecture!

Matt Gatez: But that's surprising because it was widely reported the National Defense University had Thomas Piketty come. And this was the title of his lecture responding to china, The case for global justice and democratic socialism. So now that you know that they did this, Would you agree that embracing socialism is not an effective strategy to combat China? If we don't embrace it then I guess why did the National Defense University put out a statement again? This is funded by U.S. taxpayers, saying in this talk Mr. Piketty will argue that the correct answer lies in ending western arrogance and promoting a new emancipatory and egalitarian horizon on a global scale. A new form of democratic and participatory ecological and post-colonial socialism, so why would we invite people we don't agree with to evangelize views and values that we don't share at the National Defense University? When we should be learning strategies about how to combat our enemies and make assessments that are accurate?

Sec. Austin replied: We do learn a lot about strategy, and about the military and about joint force development and so that is our focus in these in these institutions. I don't know what the context of this particular or the content of this particular issue.

Matt Gaetz: Mr secretary I have shared with you, that the context wasn't better to understand socialism so we can defeat it the context wasn't learned about it. So that we can offer countermeasures to the concept was. It's time for socialism and the reason I know that's the context is because the lecture was pulled from a book written by Thomas Piketty entitled Time for socialism and I just can't help but like notice.

Mr secretary you guys told us that Russia couldn't lose, you said to us that the Taliban couldn't immediately win and so I guess I'm wondering what in the 773 billion dollars that you're requesting today is going to help you make assessments that are accurate in the face of so many blown calls.

Sec. Austin: You've seen what's in our budget, you've seen how the budget matches the strategy, and so I'll let that speak for itself

Matt Gaetz: We are behind in hypersonics, we've failed to deter Russia last year. What are you what you're saying we're behind in hypersonics how do you okay who's the head in hypersonics, how do you make that assessment?

I'm embarrassed by your leadership I am not embarrassed for my country, that is so disgraceful that you would sit here and conflate your failures with the failures of the uniformed service members. You guys said that Russia would overrun Ukraine in 36 days. You said that the Taliban would be kept at bay for months, you totally blew those calls and maybe we would be better at them. If the National Defense University actually worked a little more on strategy and a little less on woke-ism.

Sec. Austin: Has it occurred to you that Russia has not overrun Ukraine because of what we've done and our allies have done?

Matt Gaetz: Yeah I saw that the Obama administration tried to destroy our military by starving it of resources. And it seems the Biden administration is trying to destroy our military by force-feeding it woke-ism I yield back. Matt responded to Sec. Austin at a House Armed Services Committee hearing.

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